Breakfast
by WorldOfTilt
Summary: Brittany and Santana cope with Max's first day of kindergarten. Well, Brittany copes, Santana has a bit of a nervous breakdown. First one-shot in my Midnight Snack universe. Originally posted on LJ.


"Ok, it's time to get up." Brittany gently nudged the sleeping bundle of blankets. It had been a hectic night: packing up school bags, making lunch ahead of time, trying to get both Max and Santana clean and in bed at a reasonable hour.

"I don't wanna." the blankets whined back.

"Come on, it's the first day of school. Let's not start the day off on the wrong foot." Brittany nudged a little harder.

"No."

"I'm only going to say it one more time. Get out of bed." Brittany willed herself not to get frustrated. She knew the first day of kindergarten was going to be stressful but she hoped at least everyone would get out of bed without a fight.

"No."

"Santana, get out of bed right now before I withhold sex for the next two weeks." Brittany was done playing, she needed Santana to be an adult today and if withholding sex was the only way that was going to happen, so be it.

"Fine, I'm up, I'm up. No need to threaten me." Santana said as she pouted her way to the bathroom. "Gosh, so cranky first thing in the morning Britt," Santana huffed. Brittany walked over gave Santana a good morning kiss, an unnecessarily sharp slap on the butt, and got into the shower.

Santana finished up and went to go wake Max. Besides those special mornings when Britt wakes Santana up with her mouth, Santana's favorite mornings are when she gets to wake Max up. Sometimes she stands in his doorway thinking about how he used to not be in her life at all and shakes her head at the thought. How did she live without Brittany and Max? It's like she wasn't sure what her life was prior to that rainy day four years ago. She was just kind of existing and not fully alive. But now she has a family; Brittany and Max are her family. Santana walked over to Max's bed. Smiling at the memory when she took him to get his baseball sheets and blanket after he'd discarded the dinosaur themed ones that Brittany had already bought.

"Hey Maxy, time to get up." Santana whispered softly as she made her way over to the messy clump under the covers. When she got no answer she slowly pulled the blanket away. No Max.

"Oh no, he's so freaked out about starting school that he ran away!" Santana gasped, immediately jumping to the worst-case scenario.

She started searching their apartment he wasn't in his bedroom. She made sure to check the closet and under the bed. She was sure he wasn't in the master bathroom with Brittany. He wasn't in the hall closet or the master bedroom. Santana checked the living room and by time she got to the kitchen she was in full-blown hysterics. Running up to the bathroom she threw the shower curtains open coming face-to-face with a very naked, very soapy Brittany.

"Oh, Hi Santana, you wanna come in?" Brittany didn't flinch, merely stepping aside, "but no funny business, just wash and go." Brittany turned around to shampoo her hair. Brittany noticed that Santana looked a little frazzled. Actually, Brittany thought, frazzled would be an understatement. Santana was still in her boxers and tank top, both of which were way too big for her slight frame. If Brittany didn't know better she would have thought Santana had been electrocuted on her way to the bathroom; her hair was standing up in every direction, she was vibrating with nerves, and for some reason she only had on one sock. But this was Santana, Brittany reminded herself. More often than not, this is what Santana looked like in the mornings. She slept with about as much tranquility as she did everything else.

"Max is missing!" Santana practically screamed into the shower.

"No, he's not," Brittany dismissed Santana's yelling by massaging more shampoo into her scalp.

"Umm yeah. Yeah he is. He is nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere." Brittany could see Santana was on the verge of tears so she figured she might as well humor her.

"Give me a minute to wash the soap out of my hair and I'll get him." Brittany started to rinse the shampoo out of her hair.

"Are you out of your mind. Our son is missing." Now, Brittany was not insensitive, in fact growing up she was considered too sensitive. Always taking on everyone else's emotional state. But Brittany knew Santana and she knew Max. Brittany also knew that Santana had been internally freaking out about Max's first day of school the entire summer and that all that worrying and fretting was finally coming to the surface. She also knew that Max had not run away since she saw him scurry past the bathroom about four minutes prior to Santana's nervous breakdown. Brittany knew the real reason Santana was freaking out, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun at Santana's expense.

"No, he's not. You are just a little freaked out this morning." Brittany turned her back to Santana so her harried girlfriend couldn't see the laugh Brittany was holding in.

"He's not in his bed." Santana stomped.

"Well, luckily for us we have more than one room in the apartment. Why don't you see if he's on the couch? He's probably sitting there eating his cereal and watching cartoons." Brittany finished up her shower and stepped out.

Momentarily distracted by her hot, wet, and naked girlfriend mere inches away, Santana lost her train of thought, "uhhh ok yeah I'll go check."

Sure enough when Santana went back into the living room there was Max swinging his little legs off the couch, eating his cereal, and laughing at the cartoon cat on the television. Santana sulked over and took a seat next to him. She tussled his already out of control bed head then without warning took his cereal bowl from him, placed it on the coffee table, and proceeded to smother Max with hugs and kisses.

"Ahhh stop it!" Max whined from underneath Santana.

"No, I missed you so much. I am going to miss you so much." Santana was howling into the couch cushion she fell into when Max finally escaped her clutches.

"Mooommmmyyyy!" Max yelled towards the master bedroom.

"What's up baby? Is San being a little clingy this morning?" Brittany asked, walking down the hall towel drying her hair. "It's ok she's just really excited that you are starting kindergarten today." Brittany tried to pat down some of Max's hair, giving Santana a 'pull-it-together' look.

"You're excited too?" Max asked pushing her hand away from his hair and messing it back up causing Brittany to laugh at how much like Santana he was.

"Yes, of course I'm excited baby. But San and I show our excitement differently. Isn't that right love?" Brittany craned her neck to where Santana was sitting on the couch next to Max's finished cereal, openly sobbing.

"Yeah." sniff.

"San, why don't you clean up Max's breakfast while I get him dressed, ok?" Brittany told more than asked.

"No, no I want to get him dressed we've had his outfit picked out for weeks! Right Maxy?" Santana jumped up off the couch.

"Yes! Remember when San stayed home and took me to see the dinosaurs at the museum and we had ice cream for lunch? That's when we bought a special starting school outfit!" Max jumped up and down at the memory.

"Ok you two, just hurry up. We have to leave in thirty minutes and San isn't dressed yet either." Brittany laughed at her son and girlfriend. Both standing there side by side, both in boxers and tank tops, both heads of hair a mess, both with little dribbles of cereal milk on their shirts, both with somehow identical looks on their faces, and Brittany wasn't sure if this was nurture or just plain coincidence but they both had that same one sock on. She shook her head and went to clean up the breakfast mess.

Back in Max's room Santana tried to stay strong, she really did. She managed to get all of Max's clothes out of his dresser and place the items neatly on his bed before breaking down into hysterics again.

"San, what's wrong? Mommy said you're excited but people only cry when they are sad," Max pouted at the thought of his Santana being sad, especially at something he might have done.

"No, no little man. I am so excited that you are starting Kindergarten. You are such a big boy and I am so proud of you. You are going to be such a superstar. Kindergarten is so much fun. You get to color and sing songs and play outside with the other kids. I'm sorry if my crying is confusing you. I am just going to miss you a lot. I know I will be at work and it's the same amount of time that I won't be seeing you, but this feels different. You are growing up so fast and turning into such a big boy and it's just all happening and changing so fast. It feels like just yesterday you and mommy came into my life." Santana stopped crying thinking about that night in the diner, they still live a few blocks from, when Brittany and a baby Max come into Santana's life.

"Like when my Transformer broke and I was really, really sad because I couldn't play with it anymore? Then you showed me how I could still play car mode and its still really cool to play with but I still miss the old robot mode. It's just like that right?" Max asked sticking his hands out, palms up.

Santana burst into new tears at Max's story but managed to get out a nod that appeased Max. He started to get dressed by himself, Santana helping with buttoning his little boy jeans and getting his socks on. Once Max was dressed, Santana left him to play with his broken Transformer while she went to get dressed. Brittany was waiting in the bedroom for Santana to come back, sitting silently at the foot of the bed. Santana walked in, sat down next to Brittany, and started crying again.

"I know baby, I know. But he's just going to kindergarten. He'll be back home before you are every day. He's just a five minute walk from where I work so if he needs one of us I can get there right away." Brittany rubbed Santana's back soothingly.

"I know. I just can't believe he's not a baby anymore. I just feel like he's leaving us. And it makes me think about when you and I were apart before you came back and it breaks my heart all over again," Santana sniffled into Brittany's shoulder.

"I'm sorry baby, but neither Max nor I will ever leave you and I know you will never leave us. We are a family now. Come on, we have to get him to school. We don't want him following in the Lopez tradition of always being late to class now do we?" This coaxed a smile out of Santana.

On the walk to school, Max walked in the middle of Brittany and Santana holding both their hands.

"Now Maxy, what do you do if one of the other kids is mean to you?" Santana quizzed him.

"I use my 'laser sharp wit to knock them down with words'," Max said proudly.

"Santana!" Brittany looked at her girlfriend in disbelief.

"What?" Santana asked honestly.

"Max, if someone is mean to you, you walk away and tell the teacher," Brittany advised.

"Hell no, our son is not a tattle-tale!" Santana argued.

"Santana, first of all no cursing. Second, it's not being a tattle-tale if it's in kindergarten." Brittany huffed.

"Fine, Maxy tell the teacher. But if the kid keeps bothering you, you knock his socks off," Santana gave Brittany a very proud look thinking they compromised on their issue.

There were about twenty other kids with their parents waiting in front of the building. Brittany and Santana smiled at a few parents they recognized from the neighborhood or the local park. Finally, the teachers came out to escort the children inside. They advised the parents not to follow into the classroom, but allowed the more nervous ones to view the room through a large window off to the side. Most of the parents milled about for a few minutes, giving some last minute waves and signs of encouragement. Brittany smiled and waved bye to Max, assuring him that she would meet him back there in a few hours. Some parents were coaxing crying children into the room and not that it was a competition or anything but Brittany was very proud that Max was showing independence and trust. She turned to grab Santana's hand for the walk to the train station but Santana was nowhere to be found.

"Ugh, where is she?" Brittany was worried this would happen, but Santana had composed herself well on the walk over here. Brittany quickly scanned the thinning crowd, no sign of Santana, and that's when she heard it.

"No, Ms. Lopez, we advise parents to stand outside. Please do so. Max is in very good hands. He has already made friends with a little girl. See they are sitting right there safe and sound coloring.

"Santana, get yourself over here right now." Brittany was standing in the doorway hands-on-hips, with an unhappy look on her face. Santana scampered over head down.

"I'm sorry, I just wasn't ready to say goodbye yet. I wasn't bothering him; I was just standing by him. He didn't even notice I was there!" Santana reasoned.

"Come on babe. We both have to get to work. I will call you as soon as I pick Max up this afternoon. In fact I'll have him call you," Brittany grabbed Santana's hand and forcibly removed her from the school.

"Fine, but just so you know if my cell phone doesn't ring by 3:02PM I am calling the cops," Santana threatened.

"I know, baby, I know you will," Brittany sighed.

By the time they reached Santana's train station she had managed to calm down. She knew Max was safe and happy at school and she had to respect that. She knew starting kindergarten was the least of the milestones she and Brittany would have to deal with around Max and if she was acting like this now, imagine what she's going to be like when he leaves for college. Santana shivered at the thought.

"What was that?" Brittany asked, feeling Santana shake.

"Oh, nothing, just a chill. Ok call me by 3:02PM. I'm not kidding. I love you." Santana gave Brittany a peck on the lips and descended down the train station stairs content in the knowledge that she had gotten through dropping Max off at kindergarten for the first time. Of course, the knowledge that she had placed a tracking device inside Max's book bag and had the home and cell numbers for both his teachers memorized already, eased her mind a little as well.


End file.
